“I thought about that,” Donna admitted, “but Justin didn’t argue with Neale so…” She shrugged, looking totally baffled.

“No, Justin didn’t say anything then—but later on he told me he’d felt something grab him and pull him under. And,” she went on reluctantly, “I felt something bump against me, too. And there was something in the water.”

Donna went stiff all over. “You don’t mean—a shark! Oh, God, Kelsey, if you saw a shark I’ll just—”

“That’s just it,” Kelsey said miserably, “I know I saw something and it looked like a fin—but Neale says maybe it wasn’t—that real sharkskin would have cut me—and it was dark out there, and I was pretty scared—”

Donna nodded slowly. “What about Justin? Did he see anything? Anything at all?”

Kelsey shook her head. “But Donna, the more I think about it, the weirder it gets. What if Neale was right? Would we have both been that lucky—both of us—if there was a shark out there? I mean, what are the chances of a shark coming after both of us and not attacking?”

Donna’s eyes narrowed. “What are you getting at?”

“I mean, what if someone was just trying to scare us? I don’t know how they did it—but—what if somehow they made it look like a shark attack?”

Donna’s burst of laughter was completely humorless. “Why on earth would anyone do that?”

“I don’t know…” She stared down at the growing pile of sand beneath her fingers, but what she saw instead was the wet beach in the moonlight, and Justin sprawled there, gasping for breath, his eyes glazed with fear, his growing panic over Neale. “Where was he when I went in the water…you don’t understand…Neale…where were you…Neale…”

“I think I know,” Donna said quietly, and Kelsey watched as mingled amazement and horror crept over her face. “Oh, Kelsey…I…”

“Donna, tell me—”

“Maybe they weren’t after Justin, Kelsey. Maybe they were after you.”

Fear gripped her with icy tentacles. She stared at Donna, the world receding around her in a curious haze. Donna leaned forward, her hands gripping Kelsey’s knee.

“Kelsey, you’re the one who had Beth’s note. You’re the one who had some proof that she might have been killed—”

“But I don’t have it anymore,” Kelsey moaned. “Someone—oh, Donna—”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“It has to be him. Everything points to him.”

“Isaac,” Donna whispered.

“He knew I was staying with them,” Kelsey said dully. “He knew about Beth…he told me she was dead. And it must have been him who listened in on my phone call with Jenny…Neale said Isaac had just been in Eric’s house to use the phone—he probably picked it up while I was on the line—and then he searched my room…and took Beth’s note.”

Donna reached out, her cold fingers clamping around Kelsey’s wrist. “But you said he denied killing her, even though—”

“Well, what’s he gonna do, turn himself in for murder? You said yourself he’s the one who found the drowning victims on the beach. Didn’t anyone ever suspect anything—”